A New Deal for Southampton Carers
June 10th 2008
Alan meeting working carers, organised by Usdaw
Alan Whitehead has welcomed the government’s New Deal for Carers strategy, the final policy proposals of which were shaped by contributions made by carers in Southampton, led by Dr Whitehead. The New Deal has been introduced as part of Carers’ Week – which runs from 9th-15th June 2008.
Last July Dr Whitehead organised a consultation event in his constituency which fed in to the government’s New Deal for Carers strategy. Carers living in Southampton made a number of practical proposals as to how their work as carers could be better supported, such as having dedicated key workers in touch with them on an annual basis, increasing the number of respite days available, and ensuring there fallback plan in place for the person being cared for if their carer becomes incapacitated.
The government’s New Deal for Carers will help support Britain’s 6 million carers by:
- spending £150 million to double the number of respite days available to carers
- spending £60 million to target professional support towards children, to ensure no child has their childhood stolen through taking on inappropriate caring responsibilities
- £38 million to help carers who want to combine a part-time job with their caring role
- A pilot scheme for annual health checks for carers
Dr Whitehead said:
“This is a very good policy document that has the potential to make a real difference to the lives of the carers doing vital and often unrecognised work in our city. I am particularly pleased to see measures on respite, regular health checks and part-time work included, as these were issues that carers in Southampton specifically highlighted in my consultation panel for carers last year.”
The 2001 census estimated that 1 in 12 people in Southampton - over 18000 - act as carers, and that almost 7000 people in the city take on new caring responsibilities each year.
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More information
- Read the full New Deal for Carers policy document
- The following policy suggestions came out of Dr Whitehead’s consultation, run in Autumn 2007, which gave carers in Southampton Test the opportunity to feed into the New Deal for Carers policy document:
- The allocation of a key worker to each carer, who is not someone who knows all the answers, but who can refer the carer to the right professional or voluntary organisation and monitor their progress to ensure that the appropriate help, advice or benefit has been provided, and that there should be contact between the key worker and the carer on at least an annual basis.
- Increasing the number of days of respite available to carers, using the mean number of days leave for UK employees as the target to meet
- More and clearer booklets of national/local services available to different types of carers
- A plan for the future for every cared for person in case their carer dies/is no longer able to act as a carer.
- Reliability and continuity of services, especially retention of staff in respite centres.
- Improved advice over power of attorney, to avoid legal difficulties when a child being cared for turns 18
- Continuing to give carers their carers’ allowance when carers receive their pension.
- Better advice re: negotiating payments for carers/services to be paid for with carers’ allowance/attendance allowance and keeping within the budget.
- More flexible working practices to help carers return to part-time work